There were plenty of people happy when Chet was finally ready to be discharged from Rampart - none as happy as Chet himself was.

"Np offense, Dixie, but I'm really ready for some food that isn't served on a metal tray."

Laughing as she handed his chart over to Doctor Brackett, Dixie shook her head.

"No offense taken. After all, I'm not the one that cooks the meals around here. Besides, I've heard rumors that you have a home-cooked meal waiting on you."

A happy smile formed as Chet leaned forward sitting on the hospital bed so that Doctor Brackett could check how the exit wound had healed one last time.

"Yep. Bev has been taunting me with visions of her pot roast and deep-dish apple pie all week long. She said if that didn't encourage me to get better, I was past all hope."

Even Doctor Brackett gave a chuckle at that before patting Chet on the shoulder.

"Everything looks good. Remember that you aren't cleared for full duty yet and take it easy for the next week. We'll look at you again then and see if you're ready for a round of physical therapy to get you back in shape."

There was a tap at the door and all three turned to look. Beverly was there along with Roy - and Chet's mouth went slightly dry when he saw the beautiful redhead standing with them.

"Good morning! Is Chet ready?"

Dixie was barely containing her laughter at Chet's expression, but Doctor Brackett didn't seem to notice.

"I'm signing off on his release forms now."

Roy met Dixie's eyes and was obviously as amused as she was by Chet's staring. Beverly laughed and came into the room.

"Chet? I'd like you to meet my sister-in-law, Claire. She's just moved into the area and will be staying with me until she finds a place of her own."

Claire came over and offered her hand.

"I'm so pleased to meet you. I've heard so much about you from Bev and Tina."

A subtle nudge against the bed by Roy spurred Chet back to reality and he wiped his hand off on the bedsheet before taking the offered hand.

"Nice to meet you, Claire. Umm - welcome to the neighborhood."

Claire gave Chet a brilliant smile before rejoining Beverly as Dixie and Doctor Brackett exited the room, leaving Roy alone with Chet to help him get out of his hospital gown and into regular clothing.

What could have been an awkward drive back to Chet's neighborhood was instead filling with laughter as Claire regaled them on her far from smooth move from Boston to Los Angeles.

"I couldn't believe it when they told me that they couldn't find my luggage. Bev and Tina bought the set for me for Christmas and Tina had picked out the pattern. My luggage is hot pink and lime green leopard print. How could anyone not see that combination?"

Paying more attention to Claire than to his surroundings, the car stopped and Chet suddenly realized that not only were they home, but all the parking places along the street seemed to be packed and one of the cars he knew was his mother's.

Roy and Beverly escorted Chet to the back yard which was set up with several tables loaded with a variety of enticing smells foods. His Station 51 family were all there as well as his mother, step-siblings and most of his neighbors. Doctor Early was already there, talking to Johnny and Chet began to laugh as Doctor Brackett and Dixie showed up a few minutes later.

Tina was darting from person to person playing hostess until she saw Chet. She made a beeline for him and escorted him to a comfortable chair that had been set up for him. Tina gave him firm orders to stay in the chair befor darting back off to fetch him a glass of punch.

Roy made his way to Johnny's side and the two of them were approached in turn by Vince. He motioned them a little farther away from the festivities. Captain Stanley noticed and moved over to join them as well and Vince began speaking.

"I didn't want to say anything around Chet, but I thought you'd like to know that Vesely and Carmichael have both lost their detective status. Sheriff Webb asked me to inform you that Chet will be receiving a formal apology. Seems that Vesely has a history a bad interactions with the fire department from his first posting in San Diego. I wish his former supervisors had passed that warning along to Sheriff Webb before he called them up and asked."

Captain Stanley had a look on his face such as might have been caused by biting a lemon.

"Demoted or not, if I see either of those two clowns near any of my men again, tell Sheriff Webb to expect a call."

"I believe he's already expecting that to be the case, sir."

Hesitating for a moment, Captain Stanley went ahead and asked about the two men that had attacked Chet.

"Those guys - Sam and Ralph? Will Chet have to go to trial as a witness?"

Vince considered briefly, then shook his head.

"I doubt it. They're being brought up on murder and kidnapping charges. They probably won't even bother charging them with the assault on Chet unless they manage to get off somehow, I can't see that happening with the statements we've gotten. They were pretty eager to turn on each other once they knew they were caught."

All three firemen were relieved. One less thing for their station mate to have hanging over his head.

"Thanks, Vince. You've been a big help to all of us through this whole mess."

"My pleasure. I think I'm going to go see Mrs. Kelly and make sure Sherri and Jackie are feeling better now.

Nodding, Vince headed over to speak to Mrs. Kelly as Captain Stanley let out a long sigh. Both paramedics remained quiet for a few minutes before Roy ventured his opinion.

"We'll keep an eye out, Cap. At least it won't be too long before our crew is back together. Doctor Brackett said Chet's doing well. He should be back to full duty by Thanksgiving."

Looking over and seeing Chet having a close conversation with Claire, Johnny chuckled.

"If you ask me, Chet's already doing better than well."

That remark broke the sour mood that had been hanging over Captain Stanley and he joined in the laughter.

"This Thanksgiving, it looks like we all have a little extra to be thankful for. Come on, men, let's join the others."

This isn't part of the story, but I've had a couple of questions sent by those that didn't leave a way to contact them (this site doesn't have a way to answer a guest) and thought that there might be a reader or two with similar questions.

1) Did the two nurses get fired? I will leave that question's answers up to the reader (personally, I would have canned the one engaged to the detective). However, they could very well have been giving a strict warning that they would be fired if there was another incident.

2) What about the nurses' HIPAA violations? Well, there weren't any because HIPAA didn't originate until 1996 - over 15 years after Emergency left the air in 1979. As this story takes place before Johnny and Roy became Captains, it's pre 1979.